Rules are rules. A shame for the fans but Guy was only down for one race anyway, and there's plenty of other big names there this week. If the privateer fighting for 30th place wouldn't have been allowed to sign on then neither should Guy. It's a shame, but the organisers made the right call and Guy (and his fans) have no one to blame but Guy. He'll know for next year.

It's hard to believe there isn't a provision in the rules to allow for late signing-on. The IoM is a remote place, in the middle of the Irish Sea and subject to rough weathers affecting both sea and air. There are also instances of sailings being cancelled or delayed, transporter breakdowns, and delays in the choked East Lancs road system which might prompt missing the boat or the plane. These possibilities should have warned the Organisers to create some allowance when originally compiling The Rules, This proviso could have been developed to cover other latenesses with maybe a fine for late signing-on.@Oli “the organisers made the right call He'll know for next year."Pedantically they made the right call. For this year's fans and the event's future finances they made the wrong call. Guy is a big draw but bloody-minded enough to say "Bolleaux, I'll not go again."Milky and his colleagues have made great strides to attract fans to the IoM, but instances like this waste their efforts.

Yeah rules are rules but I imaging the IOM organisers were getting a bit of petty revenge on Martin because he and they had another falling out at the TT this year. Martin does not play the corporate bull**** game and the TT, like many events these days, is attended by an increasingly large number of people who are only at the event because it's cool to be there and not because they are bike fans per se. Anyway I'd put money of John McGuiness turning up late to sign on and NOT being turned away.

@Tetley, would you allow everyone else to sign on late? What if both GM and a lowly privateer want to sign on late? Who gets special treatment? No one is bigger than the event. So what if Guy Martin turned around and said "I won't come next year", racing at the IOM is an amazing experience to be treasured, if he wanted to take that attitude then it's his loss, not the event's. The crowd still has plenty of big names to come for, Dunlop, McGuinness, Anstey, Donald etc. All of whom respected the event enough to get there and get signed on before the deadline. And unlike GM, they've all won TTs. The rules are the rules and if you start bending them for one, you open a huge can of worms.

@ *****bubble... "I'd put money of John McGuiness turning up late to sign on and NOT being turned away"... Well I'd put money on John McGuinness not turning up late, because he knows the rules and respects the event.

Just because someone is one of half a dozen 'big names' doesn't meant they should be tre

Oli”@Tetley, would you allow everyone else to sign on late? What if both GM and a lowly privateer want to sign on late? Who gets special treatment?”Sorry, Oli, but you haven't read my posting properly.If a provision was made in The Rules, no-one would get special treatment. Late-comers would sign in late, pay a fine (?) and everything would carry on as intended. The event would get some extra cash, the team would meet their sponsorship commitments, the fans would see their heroes. I can't see how anyone would lose.The Rules failed to take account of extenuating circumstances.However, The Rules are not set in stone so the opportunity is there for amendment.

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